This post has been constructed using the vSphere 6.0 Release Candidate (RC – Build 2172336)

vSphere Update Manager has become more complicated from an installation perspective, you have to install the vUM Server, Download Service (optional – UMDS – previously not listed in the GUI) and Client as separate binaries. If deployed, the Server and Download Service instances must be on separate servers.

The RC version of the vSphere Client does not support vSphere Update Manager, you must use the vSphere Update Manager Client to configure vUM.

As in previous versions, the optional vUM Download Service is used to provide a central repository for multiple vCenter Servers with vSphere Update Manager Server.

If you use vCSA and want vUM, you will have to install the vUM service on Windows Server 2012 R2 infrastructure and specify the vCSA details during the vUM install.

In the “Destination Folder” window, change the destination folders if required and then press “Next”.

Press “OK” to the “Free space on the selected drive is less than 120GB” message.

In the “Ready to Install the Program” window, press “Install”.

In the “InstallShield Wizard Completed” window, press “Finish”.

Install the vSphere Update Manager Download Service (UMDS)

Mount or extract the VIM 6.0 ISO image to the Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 system that will be used for the “Download Service”. Note: the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 is required to be installed before you begin, there is an install option built-in, but it requires access to the Internet.

In the “License Agreement” window, accept the licence agreement and select “Next”.

In the “Proxy Settings” window, configure the proxy settings if necessary and select “Next”.

In the “Destination Folder” window, change the destination folders if required and then press “Next”.

Press “OK” to the “Free space on the selected drive is less than 120GB” message.

In the “Ready to Install the Program” window, press “Install”.

In the “InstallShield Wizard Completed” window, press “Finish”.

Open a Windows Command Prompt and change directory to “<Install Drive>/Program Files x86/VMware/Infrastructure/Update Manager” and run the “vmware-umds.exe” command with options to configure the repository and URL (this URL will be used in the next section). Test the URL from the UMDS server IE browser to ensure that it functions.

Install the vSphere Update Manager Client

Mount or extract the VIM 6.0 ISO image to the Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 system that will be used for the “Client”.

Execute the “autorun.exe” file.

In the “VMware vCenter Installer” window, select the “Client” object under the “vSphere Update Manager” option and press the “Install” button.

If the vCenter Server has the vUM service configured, the main VUM Client window will have an “Update Manager” tab. If there is no vUM service configured, the main VUM Client window will only have the “Permissions” and “Tasks & Events” tabs.

Select the “Admin View”, then select the “Configuration” tab and the “Download Settings” object.

Use the “Download Sources”“Direct Connection to Internet” for non-UMDS topologies. Select “Use a shared repository” if the vSphere Update Manager Download Service (UMDS) has been configured. Enter the UMDS URL configured in the previous section, press the “Validate URL” button and then press “Apply”. Do this for each individual vCenter Server that has the vUM Server installed.

Great walkthrough. Have you been able to get VUM to show up in the web client? It shows up for me in the thick client, but even though it claims the plug-in was successfully added I don’t get it in the web client.